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Hometown Hockey
During the regular season, Sportsnet broadcasts a Sunday national game of the week entitled Rogers Hometown Hockey. The games are co-hosted on-location by Ron MacLean and Tara Slone from various Canadian cities as part of a nationwide tour: each tour stop features a weekend festival with community activities culminating with the live telecast on Sunday evening. Continuing Sportsnet's focus on storytelling, the Hometown Hockey games feature segments profiling local players and teams from each city. London, Ontario hosted the first broadcast of the 2014-15 season on October 12, 2014. The games and tour contribute to an effort by Rogers to improve its public image, particularly under CEO Guy Laurence, by associating itself with the sport of hockey at a local level. MacLean characterized Hometown Hockey as an extension of Hockey Day in Canada and the Kraft Hockeyville competition—highlighting grassroots hockey throughout the country on a weekly basis. He also felt that the Sunday night timeslot was "a good hockey night", believing that it could be "a family-forward way of doing the show to get the kids involved. Families can have it on while they get ready for school or work Sunday night. For me, after 27 years, honestly, what’s wrong with doing something different?" The games also seek to emulate the success of NBC's Sunday Night Football—which airs against Hometown Hockey during the National Football League season. Most Hometown Hockey games are aired in primetime, although it sometimes moves games to the afternoon to avoid conflicts with major sporting events that would hurt viewership, such as the Grey Cup in late November and the Super Bowl in early February. At least one Canadian-based franchise is featured on Hometown Hockey, although it may also air a game between two American-based teams, provided that there are no scheduled games involving Canadian teams on a Sunday. The games were carried by City during its inaugural season, although infrequently moved to Sportsnet in the event of scheduling conflicts. Beginning in the 2015-16 season, Hometown Hockey was moved exclusively to Sportsnet; Moore explained that introducing Hometown Hockey on City was intended to incubate the brand, but that airing it on Sportsnet made sense from an economic standpoint due to its status as a pay channel, and enabled City to return to entertainment programming on Sundays. Minority language coverage In March 2019, it was announced that Sportsnet had partnered with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) to simulcast the Montreal Canadiens/Carolina Panthers game on March 24 with commentary in the indigenous language of Plains Cree. It was the first-ever NHL broadcast in the language: Clarence Iron of Pinehouse, Saskatchewan's CFNK-FM (who is known locally for his radio broadcasts of indigenous teams in the language) served as the play-by-play announcer, while former NHL player John Chabot and Northern Cree member Earl Wood hosted the studio segments. Alongside the broadcast, Hometown Hockey also originated from the Enoch Cree Nation reserve outside of Edmonton. CBC News|last=Fournier|first=Ariel|last2=Kurtz |first2=Rod|website=CBC News|language=en|access-date=2019-03-24}} Series overview Hometown Hockey Tour Stops References Category:NHL broadcasts Category:Established in 2014 Category:Ice hockey in Canada